A commercial airliner, such as an Airbus, will have a high RCS due to the bare metal, the curved surfaces of the fuselage and wings, in addition to the antennas and engines that return a reflection back to the source. A stealth aircraft, designed to have a low RCS, is designed with absorbent paint and aircraft surfaces that are specifically angled to reflect the signal somewhere else other than the source. Since the early 1940’s, when radar was first used, countries have been working on avoiding and playing hide and seek from radar.
The Deputy Director turned to his assistant and yelled over, “Jason, tell them I’m going to be 10 minutes late.” Calvin put his schedule back in his pocket.
“I’m intrigued, Mark. Tell me more,” said the Deputy.
Mark paused to gather his thoughts. He had been successful before on hunches related to this, like the Chinese Shenyang J-31 Gyrfalcon. It was starting to hit him that this was much bigger because it involved multiple DIA directorates, but Mark considered it as a potential moment to shine. He continued with his same sassy and aggressive attitude, switching hands to hold his fancy drink.
“Well, sir… the Buckley report stated that the China Watch Stander observed the target that was already in the air. No flame detection out of the silo on launch, nor a flight motor,” explained Mark.
The DF-5 Chinese missile did, in fact, have a launch motor to get it out of the ground, then another engine to help it get to its destination, which should have been detected and it wasn’t. Based upon history, so far, his thinking was valid.
“The SBIRS, and the old school DSP, detected an initial flash, then nothing. That went on a few times. What if that flash were an aircraft, say a pilot, moving the throttles in and out of military power and afterburner? That would show for sure.” Mark considered the technology some more. “Look. It could be all about scramjets. Those engines mix together air and liquid fuel at supersonic speeds, and could propel aircraft at hypersonic speeds… at unbelievable Mach speeds.”
Mike Klubb huffed. “The Chinese don’t have scramjets, Mark. Please just….”
“Mike, hold your horses, kid. If I remember correctly, last fall, a Chinese University professor received an award from the Chinese Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was able to design China's first scramjet engine. He took the top billing at the Annual China Aeronautical Science and Technology Conference. The, ahh… the Feng Ru Aviation Science and Technology Elite Awards, if I remember correctly.” A pause, then, “So, Klubber, with that, what if they were already doing it?” asked Mark,
Afterburner was an engine throttle setting on military aircraft. That setting on the throttle, controlled by the pilot, poured raw fuel right into the exhaust of the engines. It not only accelerated the engines and therefore the entire aircraft to incredible speeds, but caused a large flame out of each engine nozzle in the rear of the aircraft, sometimes to the tune of 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Again, Mark’s thoughts were effective in gaining looks of the audience, as few heads were nodding in agreement.
“The Buckley team then saw it change direction, and possibly because the pilot was maneuvering the aircraft,” shared Mark. “Maybe airspace. Perhaps de-confliction of another aircraft… or even birds. Even the flight test itself may have called for a turn or turns.” Mark thought some more silently. “Then… the target disappeared? Yes? Disappeared? Something that has never happened before,” Mark said, waving his hand around.
Mike was looking at the podium, making a note with his pen, avoiding direct eye contact with Mark.
“In aviation, we call that a landing. The Buckley team thought they lost it because it didn’t impact its target. Perhaps, all the pilot did was reduce the throttles out of afterburner, out of full military power, to calmly reduce speed, drop his gear, and land.”
Mike looked up, but did not look at Mark, but at the Deputy.
“Mark, what about those excessive speeds? Too fast for an aircraft?” asked the Deputy.
“Well, sir. No. No, sir,” Mark shook his head. “Our teammates over at the ranch… Area 51 … already have new hybrid engines on test beds that are forecasted to easily fly into those Mach speeds,” referring to the dry lake bed in Nevada, known as Groom Lake. “We are already flying some things in Restricted Airspace R-5808 that we can’t talk about in here, but we both know the boys over at Lockheed and Air Force are working on some technology.”
Groom Lake, also known as Area 51, in addition to Tonopah, was located north of Las Vegas, Nevada. The flying activities there were legendary both inside and outside the military and intelligence community, and clearance to know what went on there was always on a ‘need to know’ basis. As it turns out, Mark never had the need to know. To his surprise, as well as the rest of the world’s surprise, in late October 2013, the National Security Archive declassified much of the existence of the secret base. Stories of test flying Soviet MiGs under the Red Eagles Program, U-2, A-12 Oxcart, and later the SR-71 Blackbird, were declassified and open to analysts and fans alike, and absolutely fascinating reads to all. Mark enjoyed the pilot stories, the aircraft capabilities, and the work that they produced, impressed with the accomplishments from so many years ago.
Mike Klubb stood there, considering the Mark’s approach, and bit his lip while thinking. Then, Mark delivered the final nail in the coffin. He knew this was pushing it, but he figured what the heck, he was already in the deep end of the pool.
“Sir, what if… what if the Chinese are already doing it?”
“Mark, for real? What are you talking about? We would have known already,” Mike commented.
“Mike. Please,” Mark told him, putting his hand up and gesturing him to be quiet.
“What if they already figured out how to design, built, and now test fly, a Chinese stealth aircraft?” announced Mark. “How do we know they didn’t get the test data from Area 51… or get their engineers together, and start flying something? It wouldn’t be the first time, now would it?”
The Deputy stood up in the front row, and Mark slowly walked towards him. His blue and white checkerboard shirt contrasted terribly with the maroon carpet and seats of the auditorium. Mark said his last words loudly so everyone in the room could hear him.
“He’s wearing red and white wrestling shoes today? Oh, brother,” Emily quietly said to Robert from the back of the auditorium.
“Sir, what if… they, the Chinese, already build a stealth BOMBER, right underneath our noses?”
All eyes in the room were on Mark. A number of analysts sat in silence, while others were whispering again to colleagues. “Sir, let’s consider that for a moment. Since the days of Sun Tzu, back in 500 B.C., the Chinese have prided themselves on deception. He wrote, ‘be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate,’” Mark said, clearing his throat quietly. “What if… what if they already are flying it? It could literally fly anywhere the Chinese wanted, world-wide, to include the United States.”
Mark paused for moment, then turned his head outward towards the wall on the left, realizing the magnitude of his theory on U.S. national security. He shook his head gently from side to side, raised his eyebrows, and pursed his lips. “Sir. We’d never see them coming. And if we did… it’d be too late to do anything about it.”